Operations Lead

Junction is building the infrastructure layer for diagnostic healthcare, making patient data accessible, actionable, and automated across labs and devices. We're looking for an experienced startup operations leader to lead a distributed Lab Operations team responsible for keeping every lab order moving smoothly from order to result. This role is equal parts people leadership and operational ownership. Fully remote US-based, EST timezone required.

Responsibilities

Manage, coach, and develop a distributed Lab Operations team, supporting both individual contributors and team leadership as the organization grows; Plan team capacity and staffing as order volume increases based on demand trends; Own the team's day-to-day operation across lab result review, order investigations, and proactive issue resolution with labs and customers; Make sure SLAs, quality standards, and productivity targets are consistently met; Interface with vendors and ensure we have good working relationships, troubleshoot issues as they come up, and set up streamlined processes for day-to-day interaction; Step into complex operational issues when the team needs support, coordinating with Product, Engineering, Customer Success, and external lab partners where needed; Improve SOPs, quality standards, and team workflows so the operation becomes more consistent and easier to scale; Identify recurring operational issues and partner with our Operations Systems & Tooling team on workflow improvements and automation; Build a team that can solve problems independently, with clear ownership and fewer escalations over time

Requirements

People leadership: 5+ years hiring and managing operations teams through growth. You've coached people to become more independent, handled performance conversations, and built a team that doesn't rely on you for every decision.; Operational judgment: You've led teams that spend their day solving exception-heavy operational problems rather than simply following scripts. You're comfortable making decisions when situations don't fit neatly into a process.; Process improvement: You've built or significantly improved SOPs, SLAs, quality frameworks, or operational processes.; Distributed team management: You've managed people across multiple time zones and know how to build a team rhythm that keeps everyone aligned without constant oversight.; Customer and vendor management: You've handled direct vendor relationships in business-critical operations and are comfortable being the escalation point for customers.; Healthcare or operational experience: You've worked in healthcare operations, diagnostics, logistics, or another operational environment where accuracy matters.

Nice to have

Startup experience (Seed -> Series C) highly preferred; Experience managing distributed operations teams based in the Philippines; Experience in lab operations, diagnostics, or healthcare logistics; Experience partnering with an internal systems or tooling team to automate operational workflows

Benefits

Equity (extended exercise post 2 years of employment); Company and team offsites; Monthly learning budget of $150 for personal development and productivity; $100 monthly wellness budget; Flexible, remote-first working - including $1K for home office equipment; Coworking budget; 36 days paid time off (including bank holidays); Premium healthcare coverage; 4% monthly contribution to pension/401k; Yearly blood test on us; Enhanced parental, foster, and adoption leave